"There's been plenty of entertainment lately, possibly too much in the last few weeks - maybe we need to get back to crappy, ugly football to get you guys [the media] back on our case again!" Kosmina joked after training this morning.

Crappy, ugly football is a reasonable description of Sydney's last match – a turgid 0-0 draw at Suncorp against an equally disappointing Queensland.

However, on Sunday Sydney could potentially win the Premiership if they can beat Victory and other results fall their way. It would be a sweet win for Melbourne's most-bitter rival.

"I saw Archie Thompson on TV the other day saying he didn't want Sydney to win the Premiership," said Kosmina. "I would've thought they'd be more concerned with not having even made the finals."

The FC coach also raised doubt about Victory coach Ernie Merrick's stated intention of playing rookie keeper Mitchell Langerak. "Do you believe Ernie?" he asked.

"We've just got to go out and beat Melbourne. If Central Coast win or Newcastle win then we still want to beat Melbourne. We'll just have an idea of how much we'll need to beat them by."

"We need a result, we need to win the game, it's simple as that."

Kosmina also ramped up the pressure on Queensland. "We can go out and beat Melbourne and it might just put more pressure on Queensland to perform down in Adelaide."

As for Michael Bridges, Kosmina added that there'd be no sentiment when selecting the side. This will be the popular Englishman's final game of his A-League stint before he returns to the UK.

In Sydney team news, Kosmina said Mark Milligan will be available for Sunday's match but there are injury concerns for Ufuk Talay (right ankle), Robbie Middleby and Ruben Zadkovich. The final make-up of the squad won't be decided until Saturday morning.

And Sydney are still trialling a young South American striker who's been training with the club for the last two weeks.

Sydney FC is releasing an extra 300 tickets usually reserved for corporate boxes on the upper eastern side of the SFS at 4pm this afternoon after Category A tickets sold out yesterday for Sunday's clash with Victory.

Melbourne officials predict a travelling contingent of around 400 to
make the trip.